1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fluorescent labeling complexes, and more particularly to low molecular weight fluorescent complexes with large Stokes shifts.
2. Description of the Invention Background
Fluorescence labeling is an important technology for detecting biological molecules. For example, antibodies can be labeled with fluorescent dyes. The binding of antibodies to their specific target molecules can then be monitored on the basis of a fluorescence signal, which may be detected with a spectrometer, immunofluorescence instrument, flow cytometer, or fluorescence microscope. In a similar way, DNA sequences can be detected with fluorescence detection instruments after the DNA has been xe2x80x9chybridizedxe2x80x9d with a complementary DNA sequence that has been labeled with a fluorescent dye.
Very bright and water soluble fluorescent labeling reagents are important for sensitive detection of labeled antibodies, DNA probes, ligands, cytokines, drugs, lipids, metabolites and other molecules and compounds of interest. Multiparameter analysis using fluorescent labels with distinctly different emission wavelengths further increase the importance of this technology by providing a powerful tool for correlating multiple antigenic or genetic parameters in individual cells. In epifluorescence microscopy, a continuous light source with different sets of excitation and emission filters are used to excite and detect each fluorescent species. This approach works especially well if the absorption and emission wavelengths of each of the fluorophores are relatively close together (e.g. Stokes shifts of 15-30 nm). Most of the highly fluorescent, low molecular weight fluorochromes like the cyanines and xanthenes have narrow absorption and emission peaks and small Stokes shifts. Up to 5 separate fluorescent labels have been analyzed on the same specimen by microscopy using epifluorescence filter sets as described in DeBiasio, R., Bright, G. R., Ernst, L. A., Waggoner, A. S., Taylor, D. L. xe2x80x9cFive-parameter fluorescence imaging: Wound healing of living Swiss 3T3 cells,xe2x80x9d Journal of Cell Biology, vol. 105, pp.1613-1622 (1987).
Flow cytometers and confocal microscopes are different from microscopes equipped with separate epifluorescence filter sets, in that they utilize lasers with defined wavelengths for fluorescence excitation. While it is easy to find a single fluorophore that can be efficiently excited at a particular laser wavelength, it is difficult to find additional fluorescent labels with large enough Stokes shifts to provide emission well separated from that of the first fluorophore. The naturally occurring phycobiliproteins are a class of multichromophore fluorescent photosystem proteins that have large wavelength shifts. See, Oi, V. T., Glazer, A. N., Stryer, L. xe2x80x9cFluorescent phycobiliprotein conjugates for analyses of cells and molecules,xe2x80x9d Journal of Cell Biology, vol.93, pp.981-986 (1982). These can be covalently coupled to antibodies and have become widely used in flow cytometry for 2 color lymphocyte subset analysis. R-phycoerythrin (R-PE), a photosystem protein containing 34 bilin fluorophores which can be excited at 488 nm with the widely available argon ion laser, has been especially useful. It fluoresces maximally at 575 nm. R-PE and fluorescein can both be excited at 488 nm, but R-PE can readily be discriminated with optical band-pass interference filter sets from the fluorescein signal, which appears at 525 nm. Recently, 3-color immunofluorescence by flow cytometry has become possible through the development of tandem conjugate labeling reagents that contain a reactive cyanine fluorescent dye which is excited at 488 nm and fluoresces at 613 nm, and is sold commercially under the name Cychrome. See, U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,190 and Waggoner, A. S., Ernst, L. A., Chen, C. H., Rechtenwald, D. J., xe2x80x9cPE-CY 5; A new fluorescent antibody label for 3-color flow cytometry with a single laser,xe2x80x9d Ann. NY Acad. Sci., vol.677, pp.185-193 (1993). With these tandem fluorophores, energy transfer from excited R-PE to the Texas Red or the reactive pentamethine cyanine known as CY5 leads to fluorescence at 620 nm or 670 nm, respectively.
The phycobiliprotein-based labels are very fluorescent and provide excellent signals in 2 and 3-parameter experiments for detection of cell surface antigens. However, these reagents have not been widely utilized for measurement of cytoplasmic antigens or for detection of chromosomal markers by fluorescence in situ hybridization because their large size (MW=210,000 Daltons) limits penetration into dense cell structures.
There is a need for a new class of low molecular weight fluorescent labels that will provide multicolor fluorescence detection using single wavelength excitation. There is a further need for several such flourescenct labels each of which can be excited optimally at a particular laser wavelength but that fluoresce at significantly different wavelengths.
The present invention provides a low molecular weight fluorescent labeling complex which includes a first, or donor, fluorochrome having first absorption and emission spectra, and a second, or acceptor, fluorochrome having second absorption and emission spectra. At least one of the first or second fluorochromes is a cyanine dye. The wavelength of the emission maximum of the second fluorochrome is longer than the wavelength of the emission maximum of the first fluorochrome, and a portion of the absorption spectrum of the second fluorochrome overlaps a portion of the emission spectrum of the first fluorochrome for transfer of energy absorbed by the first fluorochrome upon excitation with light to the second fluorochrome.
The complex also includes a linker for covalently attaching the fluorochromes to permit resonance energy transfer between the first and the second fluorochromes. The linker may be flexible and in a preferred embodiment, separates the fluorochromes by a distance that provides efficient energy transfer, preferably better than 75%. The linker may be about 2 to 20 bond lengths. A preferred length for the linker is less than 70 Angstroms (7 nm), and more preferably, less than 20 Angstroms (2 nm). In the case of flexible linkers, particularly when the labeling complexes are in solution, the relative orientations of the first and second fluorochromes changes as the linker flexes.
The first fluorochrome preferably has an extinction coefficient greater than 20,000 Liters/mole cm and preferably greater than 50,000 Liters/mole cm and the second fluorochrome has a fluorescence quantum yield greater than or equal to about 0.05. Quantum yield is generally related to a molecule""s rigidity or planarity and indicates the molecules propensity to fluoresce, i.e. to give off energy as light, rather than as heat when energy is provided to the molecule. The combined molecular weight of the fluorochromes and the linker is in the range of 500 to 10,000 Daltons.
The complex includes a target bonding group capable of forming a covalent bond with a target compound to enable the complex to label the target, such as a carrier material or a biological compound. The target bonding group may be a reactive group for reacting with a functional group on the target compound or molecule. Alternatively, the complex may contain the functional group and the target may contain the reactive constituent. The reactive group is preferably selected from the group consisting of succinimidyl ester, isothiocyanates, dichlorotriazine, isocyanate, iodoacetamide, maleimide, sulfonyl halide, acid halides, alkylimidoester, arylimidoester, substituted hydrazines, substituted hydroxylamines, carbodiimides, and phosphoramidite. The functional group may be selected from the group consisting of amino, sulfhydryl, carboxyl, hydroxyl and carbonyl. The target may be antibody, antigen, protein, enzyme, nucleotide derivatized to contain one of an amino, hydroxyl, sulfhydryl, carboxyl or carbonyl groups, and oxy or deoxy polynucleic acids derivatized to contain one of an amino, hydroxy, sulfhydryl, carboxyl or carbonyl groups, cells, polymer particles or glass beads. In the alternative embodiment, the target may be derivatized to contain the reactive groups identified above to form covalent bonds with the functional groups on the complex.
The complex preferably also includes water solubilizing constituents attached thereto for conferring a polar characteristic to the complex. They are preferably attached to the aromatic ring of the cyanine fluorochrome. The water solubilizing constituents must be unreactive with the target bonding group of the complex. The solubilizing constituents are preferably selected from the group consisting of amide, sulfonate, sulfate, phosphate, quaternary ammonium, hydroxyl and phosphonate. Water solubility is necessary when labeling protein and oxy or deoxy nucleic acids derivatized with amino groups or sulfhydryl groups in aqueous solutions. A less polar form of the energy transfer compound may bind noncovalently to DNA by intercalation between base pairs or by interaction in the minor groove of DNA. Such compounds would be useful for DNA quantification or localization.
In addition to the embodiment of the invention which includes a single donor and a single acceptor fluorochrome, the fluorescent labeling complex may further include a third fluorochrome having third absorption and emission spectrum and covalently attached to the second fluorochrome. The wavelength of the emission maximum of the third fluorochrome is longer than the wavelength of the emission maximum of the second fluorochrome, and a portion of the emission spectrum of the second fluorochrome overlaps a portion of the absorption spectrum of the third fluorochrome for transferring energy absorbed from the first fluorochrome to the second fluorochrome to the third fluorochrome. Energy transfer procedes consecutively, i.e. in series, from the first to the second to the third fluorochrome.
In an alternative embodiment, the complex may include a plurality of the first fluorochromes each covalently linked to the second fluorochrome and each capable, upon excitation with light, of transferring energy to the second fluorochrome. In another embodiment, the complex may include a plurality of the second fluorochromes each covalently linked to the first fluorochrome and each capable of accepting energy from the first fluorochrome when the first fluorochrome is excited by light. The plurality of first or second fluorochromes may be the same molecule or may be different. For example, there may be several donor fluorochromes which are excitable at different wavelengths to accommodate different excitation light sources. Energy transfer procedes in parallel in these embodiments.
The labeling complexes of the invention are synthesized preferably by covalently linking cyanine fluorochromes to other cyanine fluorochromes to form energy donor-acceptor complexes. Cyanine fluorochromes are particularly useful for preparation of these complexes because of the wide range of spectral properties and structural variations available. See, for example, Mujumdar, R. B., Ernst, L. A., Mujumdar, S. R., Lewis, C., Waggoner, A. S. xe2x80x9cCyanine dye labeling reagents. Sulfoindocyanine succininmidyl ester,xe2x80x9d Bioconjugate Chemistry, vol.4, pp.105-111 (1993) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,486 to Waggoner et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The invention also includes a reagent and a method for making the reagent including incubating the fluorescent water soluble labeling complex described above with a carrier material. One of the complex or the carrier material has a functional group that will react with a reactive group of the other of the complex or the carrier material to form a covalent bond there between. The carrier material can be selected from the group consisting of polymer particles, glass beads, cells, antibodies, antigens, protein, enzymes, nucleotide derivatized to contain one of an amino, sulfhydryl, carbonyl, carboxyl or hydroxyl groups, and oxy or deoxy polynucleic acids derivatized to contain one of an amino, sulfhydryl, carboxyl, carbonyl or hydroxyl groups. Alternatively, the carrier material may contain the reactive groups and the fluorescent labeling complex of the invention may contain any of the aforementioned functional groups that will react with the reactive groups to form covalent bonds.
In an alternative embodiment, the fluorescent complexes of the invention need not have a reactive group when used to noncovalently bind to another compound. For example, the complex may be dissolved, then mixed in an organic solvent with a polymer particle, such as polystyrene, then stirred by emulsion polymerization. The solvent is evaporated and the fluorescent dye complex is absorbed into the polystyrene particles.